Tag Archives: Moving Daniel Murphy

The names changed but the numbers remained the same for the New York Mets, who placed David Wright on the 15-day disabled list today with a strained right hamstring and recalled Eric Campbell. Wright underwent a MRI this morning, took a cortisone injection and will be idle for the next two days.

WRIGHT: Goes on DL. (AP)

It was the prudent course, especially since Wright has a history of trying to play through injuries. Wright is as tough as they come, but this time he knew he couldn’t continue after being injured stealing second base in the eighth inning Tuesday night.

“A couple of feet before the bag I just felt my hamstring grab,” Wright said. “I thought it might be something that I could stretch out a little bit. But then I took a couple of secondary leads and just realized that if the ball was put in play I wouldn’t have been able to do anything positive, that’s for sure. It took a couple of pitches, and it didn’t get any better. That’s when I thought I’d rather say something and hopefully catch this thing before I make the same mistake I made a couple of years ago, when I tried to play through it and made it worse.

“Anytime you feel something like that, you hope that it goes away. And this just didn’t go away.”

The Mets got away from playing Anthony Recker at third base. There wasn’t a ball hit to him, but the inept Phillies didn’t try to bunt except for one half-hearted attempt. Dumb baseball on their part, but lucky for Mets.

The Mets had no other choice but disable Wright because their other options were weak. Moving Lucas Duda left first base exposed. Moving Daniel Murphy left a hole at second. Using a pitcher would have been a horrible idea.

OK, the Mets got away with it last night, but foolishly they will keep eight in the bullpen and still be left with a thin bench. They were lucky the game didn’t go long, or Travis d’Arnaud wasn’t injured, or somebody else wasn’t hurt.

They foolishly insist on playing with a thin bench. I don’t think that’s a good idea, but then again, I didn’t invent baseball.

OK, for all of you who dissed me this winter about Adam Dunn, how would you like to have him now that Carlos Delgado is on the DL for who only knows how long? Word is Delgado could be out for a lot longer than two weeks, which only exposes what we already knew – the Mets had no contingency plans for first base.

It’s a reflection on the minor league system that there’s not a ready replacement for Delgado.

Unless the Mets know for sure Delgado will be out for an extended period, it makes no sense to unload the remaining blue chips on the minor league level for a first baseman. Besides, despite their recent run, the Mets’ rotation is due to expose itself as it did earlier this season and they’ll most likely be looking at acquiring pitching at the trade deadline. That’s where the chips should be spent.

Currently, the Mets are mixing according to the pitching match-ups between Jeremy Reed and Fernando Tatis. Neither are good enough to play fulltime, although Tatis has been playing well.

Moving Daniel Murphy to first – which also keeps Gary Sheffield’s bat in the line-up – has been discussed. But, should the Mets bite the bullet and stick in him there, or send him down to the minor leagues for a month at the position?

Delgado’s injury leaves a gaping hole in the middle of the batting order the Mets are trying to fill with the 40-year Sheffield, a player the Detroit Tigers were willing to pay millions of dollars to for just going away. Sheffield has been hot lately, but do you want to bet for how long it will last? If Delgado is gone for any length of time, David Wright will eventually assume the clean-up position in the order.